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Democrats should drop the plans to nominate US President Joe Biden by a virtual vote ahead of their August convention, a group of lawmakers has argued in a letter seen by the New York Times and Politico.
The Democratic National Committee had decided in May to do an early “virtual roll call” for the presidential nomination, ostensibly to comply with an Ohio deadline for ballot access. The law has since been changed, however.
“It’s a really bad move by the DNC. Somebody thinks it’s a clever way to lock down debate and I guess by dint of sheer force, achieve unity, but it doesn’t work that way,” California Congressman Jared Huffman, who has reportedly been circulating the letter, said in an interview.
According to the missive seen by Politico, there is “no legal justification for this extraordinary and unprecedented action which would effectively accelerate the nomination process by nearly a month.”
The signatories call it a “terrible idea” to stifle debate and prematurely shut down any possible changes to the ticket. The move “could deeply undermine the morale and unity of Democrats — from delegates, volunteers, grassroots organizers and donors to ordinary voters — at the worst possible time,” they wrote.
Multiple Democrats have called for replacing Biden on the ticket following his disastrous performance at the June 27 debate, convinced he could cost them not just the White House, but the control of Congress as well. As of Friday, a major donor group was holding an estimated $90 million in campaign funding until the matter was resolved.
On Saturday, however, former president Donald Trump narrowly escaped being killed at a rally in Pennsylvania. The Republican National Convention officially confirmed him as their nominee in a live roll call on Monday, with the Florida delegation headed by his children symbolically putting him over the top. Trump also announced Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.
Democrats are scheduled to hold their convention in Chicago, starting August 19, but the party has tried to speed up the nomination due to an Ohio law that required nominations before August 7. The state’s Republican governor has since moved that deadline to August 23, but the DNC kept the “virtual roll call” plans.
The timeline for the virtual roll call process remains on schedule and unchanged from when the DNC made that decision in May,” party chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement.
The virtual process “is necessary to ensure that the Democratic nominees for President and Vice President appear on the ballot in every state and in the District of Columbia without basis for legal challenge,” former DNC chairs Donna Brazile, Howard Dean and Terry McAuliffe wrote in defense of the scheme. “A different approach risks disenfranchising millions of voters and clouding the Democratic path to victory.”
Disaffected Democrats can try submitting an amendment to the convention rules committee, Brazile told ABC News, “but you can’t do it through the press.”